Bound by a BOOK

“I had to stop my day to finish this book” was a simple statement I happened to see online.

I had that kind of day yesterday, and it was glorious. It had been too long since a book so grabbed my interest that I just couldn’t put it down.  Especially surprising was that it was a work in a genre that I would never have picked on my own; I was copying my kids’ idea of picking reading material that fit in one of a list of random selection prompts in an attempt to get themselves out of a reading rut. Instructed to “pick a book with a purple cover”, I was dismayed at first to realize the story was a murder mystery with vampire undertones… something I never would have selected on y own, But once the pages started turning, I found I couldn’t stop their progress until I knew how it was all resolved.

At first I tried to hold on to my to-do list for the day, promising myself I could read a few more chapters after each item was checked off. But as I reached the end of the volume I just couldn’t put it down anymore, so gave up on the list and gave in to the pull of the book. I loved it and hope I experience the same again soon, hopefully in my next read.

How wonderful when this happens as a spiritual experience, as well! Perhaps you are looking for something new in your walk with God, even on a daily basis… and suddenly are sucked into some new throught or way of seeing Him that so captivates you that you find you simply can’t let it go… and after teasing yourself with it for a while you finally just give in and experience it fully, for whatever purpose He may have in it for you.

I hope it happens to me again today!

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” 

(Psalms 34:8 NIV)

 

Bestselling Advice

I'm in a reflective mood as summer slides to a close this weekend.

One of my biggest enjoyments of the months just past was reading the book "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes, a recent bestseller about two people who find themselves in a difficult relationship. It happened repeatedly in the story that when they were in a particular difficult moment in their journey together, one would turn to the other and say, "Tell me something good." The resulting conversation would take their minds off their current heartache and focus it instead on happier times, replacing the current pain with thoughts of hope and joy.

Perhaps I loved that line so much in the book because we have the same opportunity in our relationship with God. On our most difficult days we can turn to Him with the plea, "Tell me something good!", and He responds with chapters of love and promises to come, written to us and kept for us to find in His Word. Or He sends friends to share His "Good News" in the form of hugs or favors, just when we need to be reminded of His love the most. Perhaps He just sends The Comforter Himself to allow us to feel His touch and presence in something we see or experience in the world around us.

But I realized recently that God makes the same request of us. On our loneliest or most pain-filled days, God is not oblivious to what we're going through. He comes alongside us and whispers gently, "Tell ME something good!"...because He knows that if we verbally rehearse what He's done for us in the past, repeat aloud what He's promised us in the future, or speak our thanks to Him for the blessings that abound even in our pain-filled present, we can't help but have our faith restored and our hearts filled to overflow with hope and joy once more.

May those words be our mantra as we march into Fall, then...that we make it our business to daily tell God something good, and then listen and receive what He surely will say to us in response.

"Even though troubles came down on me hard, your commands always gave me delight. The way you tell me to live is always right; help me understand it so I can live to the fullest." 

(Psalm 119: 143-144 MSG)

Nook, Book, Look

To add to the fun of being in Orlando for a couple of days to see my youngest boy graduate, my husband booked us rooms in an Embassy Suites Hotel, a family favorite. When the kids were little they considered this place hide-and-seek heaven, with all the rooms on the multiple floors overlooking a beautiful enclosed atrium. The glass elevators were perfect for spotting siblings hiding behind posts on various floors or dashing in-between tables and wingback chairs. For me, the attraction has always been the beauty of the place, the sound of the constantly running water, and palm trees rising out of the mass of vegetation, ever reaching for the blue sky visible through the sun roof above. The first thing I did after dropping our bags in our room was to lean over the railing and start looking for my morning nook…that special chair or bench tucked away in a corner where I could enjoy the early morning hours with my first cup of coffee of the day while my family slept them away. I found it in a long, padded bench that I’m sitting on sideways with my back against a post, facing a particularly lovely view of a little waterfall, my coffee on the ledge beside me within easy reach. Perfect!

My favorite author, John Grisham, is a prolific writer who seems to put out a new literary treasure every time we’re thinking of leaving town. True to form, Calico Joe, a baseball story this time, appeared on the store shelves just as I was starting to think about packing my bags. I quickly grabbed a copy and put it aside, the first item to later go in the suitcase. Once purchased, the cover of the vacation read of choice is never cracked until the holiday is actually underway, the anticipation a big part of the enjoyment. I love the paradox of being sucked into a good book just when most of the minutes of my day are scheduled with vacation activities and reading time is scarce. Then even the idle moments of the day are filled with delight as I use them to get a few pages farther into the story. Today I’m three-fifths of the way through the vacation and two-thirds of the way through the book, enjoying both immensely and trying to slow the passage of time any way I can.

There‘s plenty to look at while in town. We attended a showing of the projects the students have been working on in the time they’ve spent at the school. Not one to get lost in nostalgia, however, my son is focused instead on the start of the next stage of his life. It’s a time of looking ahead with great expectation and joy.

When you’re as happy at the end of a vacation as you are when it starts it could be that your joy springs not just from the trip itself but rather what you find in your heart…through a habit of spending time in a cozy nook with the best of Books, and looking For God every step of life along the way.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life”
(1 John 1:1 NKJV)